One Direction's What Makes You Beautiful is the UK's latest million-selling song

By Justin Myers

 

A lot can change in five years, and life has certainly moved pretty fast for the five original members of One Direction since they scored their first ever hit in 2011.

 

Five may have become four, but Niall, Louis, Liam, Harry and former member Zayn can all celebrate today with the news they've scored their first ever million-selling single thanks to What Makes You Beautiful.

 

MORE: See all the UK's million-selling singles

 

Two weeks ago saw the fifth anniversary of What Makes You Beautiful debuting at Number 1 on the Official Singles Chart, and now the song becomes only the 167th single in UK chart history to pass the seven-figure milestone.

 

What Makes You Beautiful was the first of four chart-toppers for One Direction. Zayn left the band in 2015, but the remaining four carried on to score their final Number 1 album and single, before going on hiatus in early 2016.

 

MORE: See all One Direction's UK hit singles and albums

 

Zayn scored a Number 1 with his first solo hit Pillowtalk and debut album Mind of Mine, while Niall became the first of the remaining four to release solo material, scoring a Top 10 with This Town this week.

 

One Direction's huge achievement sees them join artists like Michael Jackson, the Beatles, Adele, Elton John, Queen and Abba in the exclusive million-sellers' club.

 

This big sales milestone also makes an impact in the league table of successful X Factor stars.

Take a look at the biggest acts of The X Factor based on chart sales

 

The only songs that will sell 1 million anymore are the trickle sellers that are already almost there

I didn't actually realise they were that close. I had 980k in mind or 990k at a push.

The only songs that will sell 1 million anymore are the trickle sellers that are already almost there

 

Yes, no million sellers (Sales) released since “Uptown Funk” which was in December 2014.

 

Songs that are almost there, but these are all pre-2014:

 

Coldplay “Paradise” (995k) - this does not include the ~119k ineligible sales that it recorded in 2011.

Frank Sinatra “My Way” (995k)

Michael Jackson “Billie Jean” (995k)

LMFAO “Sexy and I Know It” (995k)

Cee Lo Green “Fuck You” (990k)

Black Eyed Peas “Where Is The Love?” (990k)

George Harrison “My Sweet Lord” (990k)

Rod Stewart “Maggie May” (980k)

Nilsson “Without You” (980k)

Bruno Mars “Grenade” (980k)*

Eminem “Stan” (960k)

Labrinth ft. Emeli Sandé “Beneath Your Beautiful” (955k)

Labrinth ft. Tinie Tempah “Earthquake” (945k)

Bastille “Pompeii” (940k)

 

*hopefully an update with this in Music Week with his new single doing well?

Edited October 8, 20168 yr by Doctor Blind

rare?! :blink: the entire YTD top10 have already shifted over 1 million chart sales~ ^_^ :cheer:

rare?! :blink: the entire YTD top10 have already shifted over 1 million chart sales~ ^_^ :cheer:

 

With streaming

With streaming

 

But since streaming is replacing paid-for sales, it makes no sense to exclude it from overall totals - after all, download sales aren't excluded from songs from the physical sales era...

It does make sense to exclude streaming from million sellers though. The idea of selling a million should be a rare thing that wows people not and every day run of the mill occurrence.

 

As for the YTD top 10 all shifting a million chart sales, I doubt half of them would have shifted a million of streaming and it's inflation of sales had never existed.

It does make sense to exclude streaming from million sellers though. The idea of selling a million should be a rare thing that wows people not and every day run of the mill occurrence.

 

Yes, although it does mean there will likely never be another million seller (apart from those who trickle sales from releases pre-2014)!

kings, ofc

 

history is coming too -nah

Yes, although it does mean there will likely never be another million seller (apart from those who trickle sales from releases pre-2014)!

 

Or during 2014 - songs like Waves by Mr Probz and Ghost by Ella Henderson must be close

Or during 2014 - songs like Waves by Mr Probz and Ghost by Ella Henderson must be close

Depends on what you consider close. Those are either at or around 900k but to gather up 100k in sales, and just trickle sales at that, is a hard task in today's sales market.

Depends on what you consider close. Those are either at or around 900k but to gather up 100k in sales, and just trickle sales at that, is a hard task in today's sales market.

 

Anything that's sold at least 900,000 I would consider "close"

I didn't actually realise they were that close. I had 980k in mind or 990k at a push.

 

950k by June last year and 28k more just two months later, so I'm actually not surprised

Yes, no million sellers (Sales) released since “Uptown Funk” which was in December 2014.

 

Songs that are almost there, but these are all pre-2014:

 

Coldplay “Paradise” (995k) - this does not include the ~119k ineligible sales that it recorded in 2011.

Frank Sinatra “My Way” (995k)

Michael Jackson “Billie Jean” (995k)

LMFAO “Sexy and I Know It” (995k)

Cee Lo Green “Fuck You” (990k)

Black Eyed Peas “Where Is The Love?” (990k)

George Harrison “My Sweet Lord” (990k)

Rod Stewart “Maggie May” (980k)

Nilsson “Without You” (980k)

Bruno Mars “Grenade” (980k)*

Eminem “Stan” (960k)

Labrinth ft. Emeli Sandé “Beneath Your Beautiful” (955k)

Labrinth ft. Tinie Tempah “Earthquake” (945k)

Bastille “Pompeii” (940k)

 

*hopefully an update with this in Music Week with his new single doing well?

 

Your "Paradise" estimate is a little off - the OCC said 965,500 in February.

Edited October 9, 20168 yr by JCM20

Yes, although it does mean there will likely never be another million seller (apart from those who trickle sales from releases pre-2014)!

 

Hello by Adele was released less than a year ago, but I'm sure it must be very close to 900k paid for sales. It will surely be the last ever song (by release date) to sell 1 million copies

It does make sense to exclude streaming from million sellers though. The idea of selling a million should be a rare thing that wows people not and every day run of the mill occurrence.

 

I agree that selling 1m should be regarded as a exceptional accomplishment, but the current situation is not the fault of streaming per se, but of the overly generous conversion rate. 100-1 might have been a justifiable estimate initially, but experience has shown that it was in fact far too generous.

 

I think the way to go will be to have two separate lists: one for songs that actually sold over a million copies and other for those who reach a million chart credits with streaming.

Does anyone know if Ellie is close to having a million seller?

 

LMLYD has obviously passed 1M but that's with streaming

Edited October 9, 20168 yr by cqmerqn

Does anyone know if Ellie is close to having a million seller?

 

LMLYD has obviously passed 1M but that's with streaming

 

Burn and Your Song have around 800k each. I believe LMLYD may be a little more than that. HLWILY was one of the last songs to go platinum on sales alone so 700k would be a push for that one.

Edited October 9, 20168 yr by JCM20